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Marlins Pushing For Laird

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12:09pm: ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick sees Laird staying put, at least until the offseason.

11:22am: Rosenthal says the Fish are pushing for Laird, but won’t give up an MLB-ready starter for him.  Mike Hindman wonders if the Rangers are demanding Ryan Tucker, putting a wrinkle into the Manny talks.

10:02am: The Marlins can cross Ivan Rodriguez off their list of catching targets, though they did make a concerted effort according to ESPN’s Jayson Stark.  They obviously couldn’t part with a veteran reliever; in fact they just acquired one in Arthur Rhodes.

Stark says the Marlins are still looking for catching help.  He believes Bengie Molina will stay put, but Gerald Laird, Ramon Hernandez, Gregg Zaun, and others are still out there.

Mike Jacobs Pulled From Lineup

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9:56pm: The early pull raised a few eyebrows, amid the Bengie Molina speculation.  It remains speculation for now though.

9:18pm: Just heard from Will Carroll that the Marlins’ Mike Jacobs was pulled from the lineup this evening.  Could just be a defensive substitution though.

Rangers Rumors: Laird, Greinke, Bonser, Masset

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Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has Rangers rumors for us today.

  • Wilson sums up the suitors for catcher Gerald Laird: Yankees, Reds, Marlins, and Brewers.  The Giants could also jump in if they trade Bengie Molina. Wilson heard that the Rangers are not shopping Laird, though.
  • The Rangers inquired on three pitchers recently: Zack Greinke of the Royals, Boof Bonser of the Twins, and Nick Masset of the White Sox.  Greinke would be near-impossible to pry loose, though Chris Davis would be an interesting offer.

Giants Like Adrian Beltre

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According to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle:

The Giants like Adrian Beltre, believing he would thrive in the more fastball-oriented National League, but a source said they have not exchanged names with the Mariners.

Schulman explains that Giants GM Brian Sabean is open to acquiring players who can help in 2009.  Hank Blalock was also on the radar, but now he’s back on the DL.  The Rangers told a white lie to the public regarding Blalock’s injury earlier this week.  The Rangers had their eye on Jonathan Sanchez, but I doubt the Giants would’ve entertained a one-for-one swap even for a healthy Blalock.

The Giants could also try the free agent market this winter.  Available third basemen include Casey Blake, Joe Crede, and Dallas McPherson.

The Marlins seemingly would swap first baseman Mike Jacobs for catcher Bengie Molina, but the Giants aren’t interested.  They’re also reluctant to trade lefty Jack Taschner, who is under team control through 2011.

Marlins Looking For Catcher, Reliever

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The NL East is a three-team race, with the Mets, Phillies, and Marlins all within a game of each other.  Who’d have thought the Marlins would be contending after trading Miguel Cabrera?

According to Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Marlins have intensified their search for a catcher.  The targets: Bengie Molina, Ramon Hernandez, Gerald Laird, and Ryan Doumit.  Molina and Hernandez are the pricey options.  Doumit would be especially tough to pry loose; he has a .937 OPS this year as a 27 year-old.

MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro wonders if Miguel Olivo, Gregg Zaun, and Paul Lo Duca could also enter the mix.  He says it could even be a three-way possibility where the Jays acquire Olivo and move him to Florida.

The Marlins are also hunting for a lefty reliever, with Arthur Rhodes, Jack Taschner, John Grabow, Eddie Guardado, George Sherrill, Will Ohman, and Alan Embree all considered candidates.  Dejan Kovacevic rattled off five suitors for Grabow this morning, the Marlins not among them.  Also, the Marlins’ interest in Guardado is light.  The Giants and Mariners both scouted the Marlins recently, and Berardino wonders if Mike Jacobs would interest them.

Berardino says acquiring a catcher and reliever in one trade would be ideal.  The one Marlins minor leaguer considered off-limits is Sean West.

Marlins Inquire On Bengie Molina

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According to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com, the Marlins recently inquired on Giants catcher Bengie Molina.  Frisaro believes the asking price may be too high, but the situation is worth watching.

Molina, 34, is hitting .282/.313/.421 in 368 plate appearances this year.  Molina rarely draws a walk or strikes out. Behind the dish, he’s thrown out a third of attempted basestealers, fifth in baseball.  Jason Kendall leads that stat by a wide margin, which is surprising to me.

Molina is owed another $2.2MM this year and $6MM in ’09, plus performance bonuses for games started as a catcher.  He has some level of no-trade protection, though it’s unclear which teams are included.  The Yankees have also been linked to Molina.  The price is said to be a young power hitter.

Sabean Explains Giants’ Trade Strategy

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Giants GM Brian Sabean explained his trade deadline strategy to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Henry Schulman.

  • As you might expect, starters Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez are off-limits.  The trio has 331 Ks already.
  • The Giants aren’t interested in a rental, even though they are in the race at five games out.
  • Sabean is likely to keep Bengie Molina and Randy Winn, but Ray Durham, Omar Vizquel, and Rich Aurilia are available.

Odds And Ends: Flurry of DFAs And GM Contract Talks

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Tying lose ends on a very slow Saturday indeed.

  • In a series of moves, the Jay’s have activated Vernon Wells with less than a month after he broke his wrist in Cleveland and DFA’d Armando Benitez. I guess they’re not going after Bonds.
  • Steinbrenner: "There are no plans to sit down and talk with general manager Brian Cashman about his contract status." The G.M.’s contract expires after the 2008 season.
  • By activating Jayson Werth from the DL, the Phillies were forced to DFA Chris Snelling, but the young outfielder is out of options. He has three days to accept the assignment or become a free agent.
  • In order to make room for the newly-acquired Berroa, the Dodgers DFA’d Terry Tiffee. Dodgers beat writer Tony Jackson thinks he could be more expendable this way if he gets claimed off waivers.
  • Bengie Molina is upset by comments made by Giant’s G.M. Brian Sabean after this week’s draft. Sabean said Buster Posey "is on the fast track and Bengie’s clock is winding down."

Alejandro "the intern" Leal writes for UmpBump.com. You can reach him here.

Sabean: Giants Will Not Be Sellers In ’08

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Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle has some telling quotes from Giants GM Brian Sabean. Despite a 17-24 record and being 8.5 games behind the D-Backs in 3rd place of the NL West, Sabean says the Giants are not going to give up on the ’08 season and will not be trading off their veteran players.

"As long as we’ve got a chance to stay in and around third place, why not?" Sabean said as he stood along the dugout rail and watched his players take batting practice. "Why wouldn’t you want to think that way? These guys think that way"

"You’re seven games under .500. That’s where you don’t want to be, but I really feel good about the energy around the club and I feel good about some of our choices. We’ve now got a solution at first base. We’ve got a solution at third. We’ve gotten Omar (Vizquel) back. Freddie Lewis has come into his own and (Emmanuel) Burriss has been a real factor lately.

"I don’t think we’re going to lose as many games as we did last year. If anything, we’re going to be a second-half team."

These comments seem odd considering that the Giants have several players that would appear to be good candidates to be traded, including Ray Durham (free agent at end of year), Dave Roberts (on DL, $6.5MM in ’09), Omar Vizquel ($5.2MM team option in ’09), Rich Aurilia (free agent at end of year) and Bengie Molina ($6MM in ’09). Of course, even if Sabean did want to move those players, he might have a hard time without eating a good portion of the contracts remaining.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Giants Like Kotchman And Mathis

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Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News writes that the Giants recently inquired with the Angels about first baseman Casey Kotchman and catcher Jeff Mathis.  Baggarly speculates that the Halos might like the idea of a reunion with Bengie Molina (owed $12MM over the next two seasons).

Of course, the value of the two Angels players far exceeds that of Molina.  No deal is close; Angels GM Tony Reagins was frank about that.  The Giants don’t have much in the way of valuable trade chips.  They’ve got overpriced, undesirable veterans plus a strong core of young pitching that they need to keep.

The Angels theoretically could part with Kotchman if they think Kendry Morales is ready (or if they wanted to shift Garret Anderson or Juan Rivera over to first, though neither has played there).  Mathis could be traded now; a separate deal with the Giants could make sense.

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